'Jessica is clumsy and falls a lot'

Thick knots covered her face and head; on her arms, legs and pelvis, purple bruises. At leastthree times, the 36-pound youngster was hospitalized. Someone had ripped so much hair from Jessica's scalp that an aunt worried the little girl lookedlike a cancer survivor.

Cousin Carisa Clark called the Florida child abuse hot line Feb. 19: "The fear is that one day[the stepfather] will hit her hard enough to kill her."

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As Jessica was disconnected from life support, in the arms of her father, Clark's report to theFlorida Department of Children & Families remained unresolved.

Jessica is one of dozens of Florida children who died of abuse or neglect in the last five yearsdespite warnings to the DCF that the child was in danger, a Herald investigation has found. Amongmore than 37 similar death cases, Jessica's is one of the most disturbing.

"They absolutely failed us," said Rachel Parrish, a Clewiston woman who pleaded with DCFinvestigators to save her 6-year-old niece.

"In Jessica's case, it was so obvious," she said. "When there's that much smoke, there's got tobe a flame somewhere. They just ignored it, disregarded it."

Time and again, in Jessica's case and others, child welfare workers and investigators acceptedfamily members' explanations that their children were just clumsy or sick, although the childrenrepeatedly were seen with everything from bite marks and black eyes to burns and bruises.

Jessica's father, Bernard Miller, who is in the Air Force based in Valdosta, Ga., and whosefamily also pleaded with the state to act, said: "She slipped through the cracks."

Her stepfather, Richard Nixon, and her mother, Sarah Nixon, both have been charged withfirst-degree murder. Assistant State Attorney Tina Johnson of Columbia County said neither she norher boss, State Attorney Jerry Blair, would discuss Jessica's death before the Nixons' trial, forwhich a date has not been set.

Richard Nixon's attorney, Herb Ellis, did not return calls for comment. Clyde Taylor, SarahNixon's attorney, told The Herald, "if the child died because of abuse, it was not abuse inflictedby her."

DCF officials defend their handling of Jessica's case, saying they had no reason to removeJessica because doctors from the state Child Protection Team, who examine children suspected ofbeing abused, said they did not believe Jessica's bruises were the result of abuse.

In particular, medical records showed Jessica had a "bleeding disorder" - exacerbated by thefrequent use of ibuprofen - that caused her to bleed freely, said DCF spokesman Tom Barnes.

"The family history truly was troublesome, and did call for close scrutiny," he said. "Had therebeen any evidence the parents were inflicting harm on the child, there ought to have been anaggressive intervention, but that evidence did not exist."

Richard Nixon entered Jessica's life when she was 2-and-a-half, when he moved into the Georgiahome of Jessica's mother.

Almost immediately the Georgia Department of Human Services began getting calls. Four timesbetween November 1998 and January 1999, investigators documented black eyes, knots on the girl'sforehead and bruises on her head, ear, arms and bottom.

The investigations all were closed as unfounded because workers were persuaded by the Nixons thatJessica suffered from an unexplained "blood disorder" that caused extensive bruising.

"Jessica is clumsy and falls a lot," the parents told Georgia investigators.

Despite that, a child welfare doctor, Janice Loeffler, ordered the Nixons to have Jessica testedto confirm the "bleeding disorder." When the Nixons did not have the testing done, authoritiesreopened the investigation.

"Dr. Loeffler felt strongly that if child did not have a blood disorder, the marks were abuse," aMay 14, 1999, report states.

A second plan signed two months later read: "Mr. and Mrs. Nixon will not leave any marks (or)bruises on Jessica."

In fact, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report, issued during the criminal investigationinto Jessica's death, notes: "By signing the form, both Sarah and Richard agreed with its findings."

But the bruising never stopped:

* On Aug. 17, 1999: Georgia officials were told Jessicahad a bruise on her face and nose, "which supposedly happened while she was playing with aMcDonald's toy." Jessica also had bruises on her stomach, ribs and both sides.

* On Sept. 7, 1999: Carisa Clark told investigators that Jessica "has black eyes all the time,busted lips, her forehead swells up, and she has a knot on the back of her head that has been therefor almost a year."

A month later, Georgia officials closed their case on Jessica Miller, noting: "Mr. and Mrs. Nixonhave moved to Live Oak (Fla.)."

It is not clear from the records whether contact was made with Florida welfare workers at thetime.

FLORIDA HOT LINE

On Oct. 11, 2001, a Florida DCF case manager phoned the child abuse hot line to report thatJessica was at Shand's Hospital in Gainesville. She had extensive bruising that covered the entireright side of her head. A Lake City nurse called three days later to say the bruises weresuspicious, because Jessica had been hospitalized before, the previous month, for a bruise thatbegan on her vagina and over several days, expanded to cover her entire pelvis.

Two more calls were made by Jessica's paternal grandmother on Oct. 17 and 18, 2001:

"When Jessica is with her father, she is a happy, outgoing child. When with the mother andstepfather, she has sadness and fear in her voice," Sally Miller said.

But in an Oct. 17, 2001, report entry, a Child Protection Team official wrote there was "noindication" Jessica's injuries were inflicted by another person. The notation also said, however,that a "fairly extensive" blood workup showed Jessica suffered from no blood "abnormalities" - otherthan anemia, which would not explain the bruising.

The investigation was closed Feb. 21, 2002 - more than 100 days after it first was opened -because doctors with the Child Protection Team were still weighing the Nixons' claim that Jessicasuffered from an unexplained blood disorder, one that could not be found after "several tests" wereadministered.

Two days earlier, on Feb. 19, authorities received the frantic call from Carisa Clark. "At thistime, she has two black eyes and bruises all over her face and body. Her hair is falling out inclumps."

"The child is not being sent to school because of questions about the severe, constant bruises,"according to the report detailing Clark's call. "The bruises disappear as soon as she is removedfrom the home."

Indeed, three different Florida doctors who tested Jessica at Shands Hospital all wereinterviewed by police after Jessica's death. They all said they were convinced her bruises stemmedfrom abuse.

One doctor, Suhag Parikh, stated "it was his conclusion that Jessica had no blood disorder andtherefore, the bruising she was experiencing was being inflicted on her."

Another doctor, Richard Lottenberg, told police Jessica's bruises could not have occurred without"sustaining an injury." Lottenberg said he also "was never made aware of any past problems withJessica including the fact that doctors in Georgia had tested her for having a bleeding disorderwith negative results."

One doctor compared the bruises to the effects of "a car accident," records show.

Yet, Barnes, the DCF spokesman, said all the doctors who examined Jessica told Florida welfareinvestigators that "if the bruises that big were the result of a blow, there would be some sort ofadditional injury . . . None of the hematomas were consistent with tell-tale signs of instrumentsthat often are used in abuse - hairbrushes, paddles, electric cords and other weapons."

Besides, Jessica herself repeatedly denied that she was being hurt, he said.

Other critical details should have raised red flags:

* In 1992, the then-Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in Florida had removed twoother stepchildren of Richard Nixon's, claiming in court documents that one of them was beingphysically abused, displaying bruises on her thigh, calf and bottom. She, too, was seen with hugeclumps of her hair missing, records show.

Only after Jessica's death did Nixon's ex-wife confirm to police that he beat the other child "ona daily basis due to the fact that she was not potty trained."

The ex-wife said Richard Nixon beat the girl "with a wooden paddle on her buttocks and would alsospank her with his hand on her buttocks," according to a police report.

The ex-wife told police that she lied about the beatings "because she didn't want the childrentaken away from her, and she was afraid of Richard."

* Another former wife told police that Richard hit her daughter from a previous marriage forbed-wetting. The woman said she allowed the little girl to spend as much time as possible with hernatural father, "to keep her away from Richard."

* All of Richard Nixon's four ex-wives told police that Richard was "controlling and or violent,"records show. One woman said she had been abducted from her job by Richard, then rescued byco-workers.

* And even Sarah Nixon, Jessica's mother, called police Dec. 7, 2001, after, she said, he gotdrunk in a south Georgia bar and physically battered her.

Court records show Richard Nixon had been diagnosed with a serious mental illness for which heregularly took the psychotropic drug lithium. As police investigated Jessica's death, they learnedfrom witnesses who frequented bars with Richard Nixon that he was often violent and confrontational.

A Lowndes County, Ga., sheriff's deputy who worked off-duty at the bar told police Richard hadbeen warned repeatedly to avoid using "undue force" on bar patrons.

FINAL DAYS

"Our whole family is struggling with how this could happen," said Parrish, Jessica's aunt.

In a 15-page letter to police, a Shands Hospital social worker recounted in detail the last twodays of Jessica's life. Jessica was in a deep coma, and doctors waited for permission to harvest herorgans before disconnecting life-support.

In the final hours, Parrish, Clark and other relatives changed Jessica from a hospital gown to afloral sun dress so her father's parents could say goodbye. "The family members present made severalangry comments about Mr. Nixon while we were dressing her as they found each bruise and abrasion onher body," social worker Patricia Goodrich wrote.

"I watched two people who appeared to have difficulty showing sustained interest in the dying oftheir child during two intensely emotional and eventful days," Goodrich wrote. "Mr. and Mrs. Nixonwere disturbing people to work with."

During the next few weeks, Richard and Sarah Nixon each applied for - and received - $3,985 oftaxpayer money as victims of crime. An official with the Florida Attorney General's Office said shewill ask prosecutors to have a Columbia County judge to order the money returned.

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